Raptors turn crises into comebacks

It's obvious the Raptors coaching staff is far more prescient than many. The latest example came in Los Angeles on Friday night, when the
Raptors managed to play themselves into a 22-point first-half deficit
against the Clippers.

PHOENIX–It's obvious the Raptors coaching staff is far more prescient than many.

It may give them all ulcers by the end of the season but they seem to find brightness in the gloom the club seems to always put itself in.

The latest example came in Los Angeles on Friday night, when the Raptors managed to play themselves into a 22-point first-half deficit against the Clippers.

Time to panic?

No. Time to win.

"There was a huge amount of confidence on the bench," coach Jay Triano reported of the darkest moments in the game. "Alex (English, one of the team's assistant coaches) said, `We're down 22 but we're going to come back and win.'

"And I told the players in one of the timeouts we were going to come back and win the game so let's start playing sooner rather than later. There was just a feeling about it – we knew we could come back."

And come back they did, rallying for a 104-89 victory that was punctuated by a 16-0 Toronto run in the final seven minutes of the fourth quarter.

Given a spark from backups Marco Belinelli (15 points, three assists) and Amir Johnson (seven points, seven rebounds), the Raptors held Los Angeles to 15 fourth-quarter points on 5-for-17 shooting from the field to run their record to 5-4.

Chris Bosh, with 21 points and 14 rebounds, had his ninth straight game of more than 20 points while Jose Calderon continued to emerge from a shooting funk by scoring 18 points – 16 in the second half.

But the most significant aspect of the win may be that it started a tough four-game road trip on a high. With games Sunday night in Phoenix, Tuesday in Denver and Wednesday against Utah, beating the woeful Clippers was important.

"You have to squeeze out wins whenever you can," said Triano. "These games build character. We've shown again that even though we're down 22 points, this team is not going to quit."

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